Nanosystems: what it’s about, how it's used, and where to read more

Manufactured products are made from atoms, and their properties depend on how those atoms are arranged. This volume summarizes a decade of research in molecular manufacturing: the use of nanoscale mechanical systems to guide the placement of reactive molecules, building complex structures with atom-by-atom control. This degree of control is a natural goal for technology: Microtechnology strives to build smaller devices; materials science strives to make more useful solids; chemistry strives to synthesize more complex molecules; manufacturing strives to make better products. Each of these fields requires precise, molecular control of complex structures to reach its natural limit, a goal that has been termed molecular nanotechnology.

It has become clear that this degree of control can be achieved. The present volume assembles the conceptual and analytical tools needed to understand molecular machinery and manufacturing, presents an analysis of their core capabilities and explores how present laboratory techniques can be extended, stage by stage, to implement molecular manufacturing systems.